RUSSIA’S ‘SUBMARINE KILLERS’ NOW OFF SYRIAN SHORE – NATO HAS NO EFFECTIVE RESPONSE

Russia is now in the position to eliminate NATO’s use of submarines in the eastern Mediterranean. They will be able to destroy NATO submarines with relative ease, and NATO will be relatively unable to give a response.

Here’s the background:

Russia has increasingly upped the ante in terms of its mission in Syria. It is clear now that the Russian navy has the ability to shut down various parts of the Mediterranean, based out of their naval base in Tartus. Also of note is their ability to cross through the Bosporus Strait, their sole-claim to naval hegemony in the Black Sea. Then we must add to this, their arrangement with Spain – much to the chagrin of NATO – to pass into the Mediterranean through Gibraltar. After the downing of the IL-20, Russia announced and enforced a temporary naval blockade and no-fly zone.

Israel has not flown a mission against Syria as well, ever since. Syria’s new possession of the S-300 is a major factor here as well. Recent years, and more so in recent months, we have seen a drastic implosion of NATO’s capacity to project force. Along with this, has been an incredible implosion in NATO’s reputation. The global forces in this emergent multipolarity are not deterred by U.S threats such as sanctions or military action.

Now Russia is in the possession to render NATO submarines useless in an actual conflict. To the extent they are permitted by Russia, is for surveillance and monitoring purposes.

What’s going on now:

The Russian navy carried out a search for submarines in Syrian waters during military exercises in the Mediterranean.

Russia has been increasing its naval presence in Syrian waters, clearly demonstrating to the United States that it is supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad. In addition, it will not allow an invasion of NATO.

According to Marco Maier of the magazine Contra Magazin, this is indeed the case.

“Admiral Makarov and Admiral Essen” frigates, as well as the on-board aircraft that supported the vessels, participated in the exercises. The mission was to detect submarines of virtual enemies.

Another observation is that the frigates are equipped with eight launchers of the Kalibr-NK missile system. Not only that, the ships in this project are also equipped with Shtil-1, Palash and AK-630M anti-aircraft missile systems, A-190 100mm universal artillery systems, torpedo tubes and RBU-6000 systems.

The frigates also have a landing platform and hangar for a Ka-27 or Ka-31 antisubmarine helicopter.

Maier concludes that with the presence of the Russian Navy in Syria, Russia intends to show that it supports President Bashar Assad’s legitimate Syrian government and will not allow any NATO action, including a possible invasion.

We’ve already seen now that the US cannot keep up. Back in April, Russian navy frigate Admiral Essen was able to detect and pursue a US nuclear submarine near the Syrian coast.

The Admiral Essen frigate, belonging to the Black Sea Fleet, chased the Ohio-class US submarine for more than two hours, the Russian newspaper Izvestiya reported , citing the Russian Navy General Staff.

The crew of the Russian ship recorded the main parameters of the submarine to then add them to the acoustic picture of the submersible.

The frigate had left for the Mediterranean Sea in March and returned to the base at Sevastopol in late June. It was in the Syrian coastal zone when the United States, Britain and France attacked Syria with missiles.

All together, Russia’s ability to successfully find, hunt, and route NATO submarines is a critical development.